edward snowden

Can someone remind me which genus bus Anthony Scaramucci stepped off of? I mean, he has one hell of a sure fire way to fight inside leaks from everhappening again. I do realize the man has a decent education but he does know that he should utilize it right?

Trump’s new communications director, one Anthony Scaramucci, vowed today to purge the White House staff of those naughty and disloyal aides in an effort to crack down on leaks to the press.

While I am sure this has some just rattled to the very core, I’m not sure how this latest threat will prevent leaks from continuing to happen. I mean, sure he can fire whomever he’d like, however he might want to sit back and rethink that for just a while. Really toss it about through the old noggin since it’s pretty evident he doesn’t have much else up in between the two ears rattling about.

Besides, didn’t Anthony himself leak that he was going to fire a press aide, then in turn complained that anyone actually ran the story?

Let’s be clear about the majority of the leaks. They are coming from concerned citizens whose government began breaking laws, spying on countless Americans as well as other innocent individuals worldwide and how can we forget, worked with Russia (current government officials) to create a shit storm of fake news in an effort to sway the American voters to vote for Trump.

The point is, Anthony can elect to fire whomever he pleases,, the problem that he faces is that no matter how good you believe you are at hiring folks who would never leak intel, you’re not that good because, the hiring pool is ever changing and newer minds want to play ball a different way.

So the better focus here with regards to cracking down on leaks would be to focus on why they are happening and correct that behavior not seek out the leakers.

The truth is, if they felt that our Government including those in the white house, the very people they work for could in fact be trusted, they would not be leaking information or intel.

That is the problem that needs to be fixed, and that is no going away until our Government behaves.

When you tell the American people you are going to swing the ax, it translates to, “you people go bury your heads in the sand and pretend things are being run all peachy keen, while we continue doing things the world doesn’t know about that we know as a Government, are both morally and ethically wrong.”

For instance I like using Edward Snowden because he is such a powerful example of what happens when someone tries to utilize the U.S. Government’s whistleblower program.

The man was shut down and basically told, “hey, the American people don’t know about this, some in our own Government don’t even know about this so, let’s just keep this under wraps.”

Being a both morale and ethical individual after having been shut down by the very program designed to both investigate and protect him, he had no choice but to become a leaker.

James Comey did it and he had no choice but to do it either, it ensured a continued investigation into Russian Meddling.

Anthony should know, that is his problem in a nutshell, it’s not the leakers, it is the various different agencies within our own Government, our policies and a very poor whistleblower program that really does not work, at all.

Not to mention our current lack of actual leadership, meaning an adult in the white house who is demanding of blind loyalty although so very undeserving of it.

Let’s face the fact and even I find this to be a bitter pill to swallow, when your own staff trusts the press more than you, hence why they leak to the press, the problem may be you and your policies rather than the staff leaking the information.

Anthony should understand with absolute clarity that the talent pool of individuals who pledge blind loyalty, well that is drying up and pretty rapidly.

People are far less likely to follow any leader or any organization, agency let alone a U.S. President with blind loyalty while the do naughty, naughty things.

Share this:

Like this:

Not to worry though, Mike says that the U.S. now plans to punish leakers in an effort to stop them.

According to an article published by Bloomberg a few days ago, Mike was quoted as stating”

“Russia “meddled” in last year’s presidential election as part of a decades-long effort to “undermine American democracy.” And of course now, as a result of that, our Government plans to actually punish leakers.

Mike has also been quoted as suggesting that leaks are more prevalent because of a worship of leakers like for instance, a worship of Edward Snowden, which is not a very intelligent suggestion by any means.

It’s not a worship for leakers at all, it’s more about not allowing our Government, to lie, cheat, steal or spy on citizens of the United States, or World through unwarranted, illegal and unapproved means.

Pretty black and white if you ask me, and if Mike wanted to actually stop leaks, he’d do more in the way of advocating better ways so as to allow whistleblowers like Edward Snowden to actually take a concern to someone who will actually do something about it rather than blow him off, ignore him and do nothing, pretty much exactly like what did happen to Edward Snowden.

And let’s face a reality that the world not just the citizens of the United States had every right to know about the NSA’s bag of spy toys. Leak or through the proper channels that whole situation needed to play out in public. Like it or not Mikey!

I’ve written about this before, Edward Snowden did in fact try to go through the proper channels before he walked out the door of the NSA with his intel that he freely gave to the world. The problem was, no one wanted to stop the NSA, shut the program down or allow Edward to continue using the whistleblower channels so as to do something about the the NSA’s spy program.

So the Government’s whistleblower program is broken, and Mike would be well served by acknowledging that first and foremost and working on fixing that instead of alienate himself by promising to punish those who are trying to do some good knowing that, the whistleblower program is a complete and utter joke.

The problem with Mike’s threat and his inability to actually decipher the difference between a leaker and a whistleblower tells me with crystal clear clarity that his preference is to allow our Government to continue to create cyber weapons, spy tools and the like so as to unleash malware and spy on unsuspecting Americans and Foreign states without cause let alone permission and…he doesn’t want anyone knowing about it.

And while I do not personally believe that intel like what malware and how it’s used should be released to the public for obvious reasons, still the world has a right to know in layman’s terms that our Government created something used to spy, steal intel or that infected over half the world’s computers at one time…like for instance, Stuxnet.

The problem that Mike faces by labeling people like Edward Snowden as mere leakers is that, as I said previously Edward did try to utilize the proper channels before he leaked the intel. He tried to shut the program down the right way before the door was shut in his face, therefore forcing him to release the intel the way that he did.

And by default not allowing a whistleblower to come forward with information about unwarranted, illegal spying on US citizens and the world, well that is just criminal in and of itself.

The question Mike should be asking himself and his fellow leaders is why is it that our nations whistleblowers are turning to leaking intel in the first place? It’s not for attention, it’s because the very program that was designed to both protect them and to stop our Government from wrongdoings, is simply broken.

Share this:

Like this:

Earlier this week Newsweek published a couple of articles regarding Edward Snowden.

Edward Snowden asserts that the articles are in fact, fake news.

The articles are in reference to a book that Edward Jay Epstein has been promoting “How America Lost Its Secrets: Edward Snowden, the Man and the Theft”

Edward Jay Epstein has an op-ed in the WSJ.

“Of all the lies that Edward Snowden has told since his massive theft of secrets from the National Security Agency and his journey to Russia via Hong Kong in 2013, none is more provocative than the claim that he never intended to engage in espionage, and was only a “whistleblower” seeking to expose the overreach of NSA’s information gathering. With the clock ticking on Mr. Snowden’s chance of a pardon, now is a good time to review what we have learned about his real mission.”

I always try to keep my articles more in the “my opinion” perspective and I have to say that I have started to notice that, more and more people are starting to sit down and really question the government’s decision to label Edward Snowden a traitor.

Edward Snowden is quite frankly, no more a traitor than my cat is thin and young.

That said I have to ask, what mission is the author talking about in his statement above? From what actually happened, Edward Snowden did not release intel to any specific government, he released his stolen information to the entire world through some media contacts and a blogger.

Besides, Edward Snowden really just figured out that the NSA was involved in illegal activity and he wanted to investigate the depth of it.

He succeeded in doing that but the man never sold intel, he in turn just handed it over to an entire world because he happens to have a moral compass.

I had no idea about the book until I started seeing Edward Snowden’s tweets, so I looked into it.

The first Newsweek article headline was all about why Obama could not, even if he wanted to, pardon Edward Snowden.

If you read the article like I did, it was the instant regret you get when you pay full price for a movie ticket to something that left you questioning not only your values by why in God’s name would you ever pay money for something like it?

All the great parts were actually in the commercials and $40 and two hours later you walked out of the theater feeling really, really let down.

The story was the same he said/she said stuff.

The first Newsweek article did not live up to it’s title of telling us why the president cannot pardon Edward, it simply told us why he chooses not to pardon Edward Snowden based off of what Edward Jay Epstein says.

Which amounts to a regurgitation of speculation and false investigative reports.

Because some of what Edward Jay Epstein wrote about in his book, was actually debunked a very long time ago.

For instance the not too subtle insinuation that Edward Snowden’s release of this intel helped Terrorists like Osama Bin Laden change how they communicate is a very far cry from being close to any truth.

Terrorist groups had already changed the means of communication they used because years before Edward Snowden’s release of intel they actually, all by themselves caught onto certain surveillance techniques.

Which was what the second article in Newsweek focused on, how Edward Snowden sabotaged the war on terrorism.

I won’t bore you with all of the specifics but I will point another big flaw in Edward Jay Epstein’s theory with regards to Edward Snowden and how he sabotaged the war on terrorism.

Epstein talks about the NSA’s PRISM program and encryption etc, Epstein more or less asserts that because of Edward Snowden, the idea of encryption started and that service providers, developers of app’s and social media now refuse to just hand over user info…blah, blah, blah

Edward Snowden or no Edward Snowden, the sad, very sad truth of that is that programs like PRISM and the NSA’s program 215 is that, from the very beginning they were inevitably doomed to fail, be discovered and stopped.

Not because of anything Edward Snowden released, but because things like encryption were already on the minds of developers.

People were already pushing social media giants, email providers, online stores, banks and search engines to put measures into place that would ensure users were better protected from prying eyes.

So yes, those programs were absolutely going to be discovered and shut down without Edward Snowden, he just happened to make it happen a little sooner than it would have.

The book also insinuates that Edward Snowden has met with Russian intelligence multiple times.

Which actually does make sense. OF course they’d want to see him, with the information that he had given away already, they’d want to make sure it was true and want to know if the US had in fact, had access to anything of the Russian Government’s.

Sure you can choose to believe the investigative reports from Booz Allen Hamilton, the firm that the NSA uses.

The one that Edward Snowden worked for when he reportedly walked out of the NSA with top level intel.

But then again, you also have to realize that Booz Allen Hamilton has a nasty habit of procuring employee’s that do a better job of hacking the air gapped system of the NSA than Russian hackers do.

They employ individuals who can obtain jobs at government facilities that house top level intel and manage to walk out the door with said top level intel.

Which by the way has happened more than once with this particular firm.

Obama loves to toss around the idea that Edward Snowden never at any time tried to use the proper whistleblower channels to report any of his concerns.

But let’s take a step back for a moment and think about that one.

First, Booz Allen Hamilton and the United States Government are the one’s saying they could find no proof of Edward Snowden’s attempts to report his concerns.

He did attempt to report his concerns multiple times but was also basically backed into a corner while trying to report his concerns as he has spoken about multiple times.

The problem with taking the word of the firm in terms of its investigation is that they are a paid organization contracted to do work for the government.

They don’t want to do anything that would risk the loss of that beloved government contract. If they knew about Edward Snowden’s concerns prior to his departure from his job, they risk losing that contract.

Because that government contract equals money and Booz Allen Hamilton just so happens to be a for profit organization.

Then you have the investigation the United States government did.

The NSA was caught doing something they never should have been doing, they didn’t like getting caught.

In fact, the US Government’s reaction to what Edward Snowden did is comparable to a narcissistic type of personality.

A narcissist is really, really good at turning the tables back onto the accuser or victim. They deflect and absolve themselves from any wrongdoing and place the blame on the accuser or victim.

What’s more however, when you really sit down and think it through, the government can’t really pardon Edward Snowden either, because it sends the message to others that stealing top level, secret and highly classified intel is okay.

They have to send a clear message and so by default the messenger will be shot in this case, not literally of course but, you get the picture.

I feel for Edward Snowden, his girlfriend and his family. I’ve been in his shoes, sometimes doing the right thing turns into giving up your entire life, everything you know and trust is just gone.

What I can tell you from personal experience, is that ,it is not an easy place to be and it’s a decision that is not taken lightly.

A lot of thought goes into it, a lot of back and forth thinking about doing the right thing.

What Edward Snowden did, was make the choice to give up his life because he believed that what the NSA was doing, was wrong and he sought only to educate his fellow man about it, not to cause or inflict harm.

When a person has morals they think of others, they gladly give up personal comforts and possessions in order to take care of others.

Edward Snowden gave up his life here at home for all of us.

Our government by default cannot condone what he did, so by default he can’t be pardoned for a very long time, if ever.

I could go on here but to be honest, all of the articles were about the same.

The Washington Post aside because they actually did a decent job of reporting on the revival of the nuclear arms race, the majority of the rest of the headlines I saw were more about fear mongering and how Edward Snowden is a traitor and must die…

First things first, Congress and US intelligence have absolutely zero proof to back up any claim that Edward Snowden is in contact with any intelligence agency or state sponsored hackers whatsoever, much less Russian intelligence.

Even if he was in touch with Russian intelligence, I am more than positive that he couldn’t possibly be giving them intel that they don’t already have access to or could get access to since Russia seems to employ every single decent hacker in the world these days…at least according to how it’s reported by our Government and our Media here in the US.

If you follow Edward Snowden on Twitter, you may have noticed his tweets today in response to the release of the HPSCI report that was released today, in an attempt to discredit Edward Snowden of course.

Edward Snowden tweeted:

“Sad result of the government’s misguided war on whistleblowers: it undermines the credibility of US Intelligence at a time we badly need it.”

And I couldn’t agree more with what he said.

Edward Snowden is a whistleblower, that is in black and white.

Edward could have tried to use the US Government’s whistleblower channels but the reality is that the United States Government has a pretty long history of not protecting whistleblowers regardless of the policy stating that it must.

Besides, he tried to warn the NSA of his concerns and he was blown off.

When will the government decide that the reality is, they need to hold themselves accountable.

The world knows now, the damage is done but rather than face the music it’s this childish behavior of “let’s get the guy who told on us and call him a criminal.”

The whole thing just reminds me of playground bullies who got busted for beating up some kid at recess.

Russia, Russia, Russia.

It’s not exactly a secret that the US has more or less ticked off Russia lately, of course the relationship is frozen and of course Russia wants to build up the nuclear arms programs.

Our Government hasn’t exactly done a stellar job of making sure they build proper relationships with the right world leaders the past few years, especially building a relationship with Vladimir Putin.

Why would Russia want to play in the same sandbox nicely?

So in a speech today, Vladimir Putin may have mentioned that Russia wants to strengthen its nuclear forces and in response to that Donald Trump may have tweeted a little something about doing the same.

Makes sense because you can’t really have a nuclear arms race with yourself…technically of course.

The real news that’s under-reported is that, Russia and the US are not the only countries attempting to strengthen nuclear arms forces.

The best headline in the news today comes from IKEA who has a message for everyone: Please, stop having sleepovers in the stores.”

I get it, if you have ever walked through an IKEA you know what I am talking about here, sometimes it’s like a maze, a long, never ending maze and some of the furniture looks pretty comfy…

But…

Apparently and I had no clue this was even a thing, people are hiding in IKEA stores until closing and then having a sleepover and then sharing the sleepover with social media.

So if your weekend plans included a sleepover at IKEA, the chain really hopes that you have a change of heart, since they prefer you not.

Also, something that I don’t often do, ever, I am sharing the following message from WikiLeaks.
“This Christmas, support those who are unable to spend their holidays freely because they chose to expose the truth. https://couragefound.org/donate/ ”

Share this:

Like this:

On Monday, Edward Snowden warned that US Government spying might just grow under the new Trump regime, in that we could just see more domestic spying once Trump actually takes office.

The US Federal Government pledged not to engage in indiscriminate espionage following Edward Snowden’s 2013 disclosures and the new fear is that Trump and his crew will work hard to reverse that pledge.

If you are concerned about that revelation, don’t be because hackers most likely already have or currently see all of your stuff as it is.

Just kidding…about the hackers.

According to Edward “We are starting to substitute open government for sheer authoritarianism, a government based not upon the principle of informed consent granted by people who understand its activities but rather a trust in personalities, a trust in claims, a trust in the hope that they will do the right thing.”

The ACLU and other groups are voicing the same concerns as Edward Snowden.

Edward as well as others are feeling that we now have a very different type of officials heading into office, they have different values, beliefs and a way of doing things, the fear is that they can and will govern in the dark.

Personally, I am not all that worried about it because I tend to not care whether or not the US Government chooses to spy on me. I figure I am not even close to a dot on the radar for them so it really doesn’t bother me in the least.

And if they did want to spy on me, they could ask and I’d gladly give them all my log-in info to everything.

But that is me, and I freely choose that.

The problem so many have is that we are not given the choice, it’s just done and we learn about it when someone leaks the information out.

I do understand the concerns that many are voicing with regards to domestic spying.

Let’s just say that under Trump domestic spying takes off full swing again?

We can’t always rely on the ACLU to fight for us, for our rights to privacy.

That said, if we see an uptick in domestic spying, since protests just seem to inspire violence these days…

According to the Thursday court filing it looks like federal prosecutors have expanded on their court filing against Harold Thomas Martin III.

Harold, is facing espionage charges for the theft of data and paperwork that he stole.

Seems that he was able to walk away with at the very least 50TB worth of highly classified data, some of which included national defense data.

He also ended up walking out the door of the agency somehow unnoticed, overtime I am sure with not 1, but 6 full bankers boxes worth of paper documents.

Quite a few of those paper documents were labeled “Secret” or “Top Secret.”

In all, he actually walked away with way more than Edward Snowden did and some are saying that if all of the data is in fact classified, it would be the largest amount of data stolen by a contractor of the NSA, to date.

“For example, the search of the Defendant’s car revealed a printed email chain marked as “Top Secret” and containing highly sensitive information. The document appears to have been printed by the Defendant from an official government account. On the back of the document are handwritten notes describing the NSA’s classified computer infrastructure and detailed descriptions of classified technical operations. The handwritten notes also include descriptions of the most basic concepts associated with classified operations, as if the notes were intended for an audience outside of the Intelligence Community unfamiliar with the details of its operations.”

Harold Thomas Martin III has taken from what I gather pretty extensive government training courses on computer security, specifically in areas pertaining to encryption and secure communications.

Additionally, the Fed’s were able to learn that he used a sophisticated software tool that runs without having to be installed on a computer which provides anonymous internet access.

That tool leaves virtually no digital footprint on the computer or network.

Harold also tried to run Tor or a VPN in conjunction with TAILS or another USB-bootable operating systems on his work machine.

It is unclear however if he sold any information or has any connection to the “Shadow Brokers.”

What is clear however, is that Thomas was intent on taking information without the NSA or his employer of record knowing.

What’s even more clear…

The NSA needs to button things down before anymore intel casually walks out of it’s front door.

The 50TB worth of data aside, Martin walked out of the NSA with what amounted to 6 bankers boxes full of paper alone, who doesn’t notice this while it’s happening?

Sure I get that he most likely took it a little at a time but, many years ago I worked retail and they have security guards that do everything but strip search you as you leave work at night. They go through all of your stuff, in fact some retail stores make employee’s come and go with clear bags to make the nightly searches go faster.

Does the NSA somehow lack real security guards or measures or did Martin toss one of them a Rubik’s Cube as a distraction in an effort to get the paperwork out on his person or in a man purse???

They are the National Security Agency after all, the name sort of says it all, you would think.

Maybe they should I don’t know, secure all of that top secret stuff contractors keep walking out with…I don’t know just a thought.

Share this:

Like this:

Edward J Snowden copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency back in 2013 without obtaining prior authorization to do so.

The information he freely released to the world, revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many that were run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments.

Hence, Edward J Snowden an individual who has a moral compass, delivered a very big PSA to the world because he truly believes in looking out for his fellow man.

The U.S. Government would like to charge him with treason for having a moral compass.

It was later ruled by the courts that the U.S. Government was wrong to use Section 215 of the Patriot Act to justify mass phone data collection.

Yet, Snowden is still considered a criminal by our Government rather than take their licks for getting caught red handed doing something they shouldn’t have been doing in the first place.

Was it moral for our Government to twist Section 215 of the Patriot Act so as to justify mass data collection? Was it?

Was it even ethical?

What the U.S. Government did in turn was, for those of you who have a sibling, we all had that one sibling got caught or who ratted out by the other to mom and dad, they in turn somehow managed to justify, deflect and get the other sibling into trouble with mom and dad, while they didn’t have to face the repercussions for their own actions.

I use this analogy because that’s exactly what it looks like.

Edward Snowden did not sell this intel to Foreign Governments, he wasn’t spying on the U.S. Government, he like with all whistleblowers, saw that our Government was doing both the citizens it represents and the world a disservice.

They were lying and cheating to accomplish that disservice then tried in vain to cover it up and deflect it away by moving to charge Edward Snowden with treason.

IF Edward Snowden had sold the intel or actually worked for a Foreign Government to spy on the U.S. Government, then what he did could have been considered treason.

But the fact is, he did not sell the intel or work for a Foreign Government. He saw abuse of power and reported it to the world, he reported to our Government’s bosses, which at the end of the day happens to very well be ‘We The People’ we do pay our Government’s bills and salaries after all.

The man should not be charged with Treason, he did a service to us all. The Government was breaking its own laws and twisting them in such a way that it enabled them to commit treason on not only the U.S. but the entire world.

Edward Snowden simply did what the U.S. Government frowns upon, in fact it’s the one thing all Government’s fear most from it’s citizens: he was brave and stood up for his fellow man. Rather than let the fear of our Government control his decision, he made a moral and right decision to expose the truth and the lies that led up to that.

If Obama were to grant a Presidential Pardon to Edward J Snowden, this president would go down in history as a President who truly in the end did serve his country and people to the fullest extent.

By standing by those who display honesty, integrity, morals and who stand up for what’s right rather than ignore the crimes our very own Government commits.

The question is however, would President Obama consider giving Edward Snowden a full Presidential Pardon before his final departure from the Oval Office?

Our Government does like it’s witch hunts though…

I can’t help but wonder…in light of the recent hacks, if our Government is missing the very clear message that is being sent our way by foreign hackers or hackers from the inside, Government whistleblowers and the like…

For our Government’s past indiscretions.

Like the leaked information about the NSA’s mass data collection and Stuxnet just to name two very publicly highlighted cases.

Headlines last Friday suggest that Russia has hacked The Donald’s campaign.

Everyone assumes that Russia is behind the hack of the NSA and Edward Snowden has reportedly issued a statement that indicates Russia was most likely responsible for the hack at the NSA.

What the hell haven’t they hacked? Wait, they have not hacked Starbuck’s making it so that I have a lifetime supply of coffee.

It could have been Russia who by the way denies any involvement in these hacks.

What was the loot in the NSA hack?

Well as it so happens the hack exposed cyber-weapons intel. That intel reveals just how the NSA hacks suspects and enemies and further details a tracking code that just so happens to reveal the fingerprints of the NSA’s malicious software.

So we really have to wonder what Russia might have to gain if they are truly behind the hack of the NSA? I mean the DNC might have been a just for fun type of thing if Russia was behind it, but what about the NSA? Does Russia feel the NSA had at one time infiltrated them and downloaded some type of malicious software?

To fully understand that, you need to get to know The Equation Group and TAO, two branches of the NSA.

Kaspersky labs describes The Equation Group as “one of the most sophisticated cyber attack groups in the world.” The Equation Group according to Kaspersky labs has operated alongside Stuxnet and Flame.

TAO identifies, monitors and has a nasty little habit of infiltrating and gathering intelligence on computer systems used by foreign entities to the US.

Anyone who has seen the Stuxnet documentary knows that it is widely believed that Stuxnet was created jointly by the US and Israel.

Which makes total sense because Israel is reportedly 15 years ahead of everyone else in terms of Cyber-Defense and Security.

Russia however, was one of the named 42 countries that the Equation Group infiltrated over the course of its 14 year project creating backdoors to foreign Government networks.

Not only did the Equation Group create backdoors, they also seemed to enjoy intercepting hardware from IT companies, globally.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Equation Group has a pretty good reputation for using strong ENCRYPTION methods. They just can’t seem to figure out a way around encryption when folks like Apple create it for consumers to use.

So who kicked in the door at the NSA?

A group called Shadow Brokers took the credit for hacking the NSA. Things got a little crazy when they came out because they boasted rather audaciously and offered to auction off the goods for $576 Bitcoins.

Bidders backed way off and the general consensus has been that those responsible for the breach were not just some run of the mill hackers but a foreign Government, hiding behind the idea the breach was caused by a group of nobody hackers.

From that, another theory sparked a lot of interest and that was, that someone inside of the NSA was in fact responsible for the leaked intel.

Out of all of the theories, this is actually what more than likely happened.

The NSA stores sensitive information on air-gapped networks, which are networks that are not connected to the internet, i.e. the outside world. They also have other security measures, not to mention despite being a pain in the ass to crack, it’s still doable.

They can be cracked through the use of undetected malware, cell phones, as Edward Snowden proved a flash drive, even a sim card can do the trick.

The point is, it’s pretty clear that the responsible party is within the ranks at the NSA.

Now, I am not saying that I am convinced that Edward Snowden had anything to do with it however…

A strange sequence of events happened shortly before the breach.

On 8/5, Edward Snowden reached out through Twitter, with an odd message to those that knew him or who ever worked with him asking them to contact him followed by 64 characters of code. That message lead many to believe that Edward had been captured or killed and failed to do a check-in prompting his account to send out a dead man’s switch. His account went silent after the odd tweets.

Shortly after that, at least 8 torrent sites had been taken down or slowed. The sites are well known to distribute large files.

News of the hack and leak at the NSA broke on 8/15

Edward Snowden began tweeting again on 8/15

Edward Snowden seems to think that the Russian Government is behind some of these hacks and has said as much through the media….initially it was almost as if he was handing out the idea like we hand out candy at Halloween.

And I, don’t believe in coincidence.

I also don’t believe that the Russian Government was behind the hacks. It’s too neatly wrapped with the bow neatly tied on top.

Share this:

Like this:

Ahhh the hacking over at the DNC, the hacking of the NSA linked spies, the IRS, the US military last year…it amazes me that our own government has not warmed to the idea of encryption.

One of the most appealing reasons consumers love encryption is because we feel safer having it.

In today’s world we have moved to a more technological way of living.

We shop online, pay for things with watches or phones, start cars with both, we can turn the air on or off in our homes from a phone, I can order Starbucks and pay for it all day long and go get it without having to say two words to anyone, we can even check our refrigerators from our phones.

We can can monitor how well we brush our teeth or not, from a phone app, check our health, heart rate, eating habit, calorie intake, workout routine, or get a new routine, yoga instructions and start a pot of coffee all from a phone, watch or tablet, if not all three.

The way we communicate with one another is also a lot less verbal than it was 10 years ago and why pay for a stamp or actually talk on the phone when it’s just as easy to send a quick text or email, or chat on Facebook or Whats App?

While we are at all of this, we choose encrypted devices and services so as to better protect ourselves from hackers. We lock our cars, our homes, we keep our money in banks instead of under a mattress and we do that why?

To keep it all safe from thieves of course. And that is how we view our messages, our data, our emails, our ability to shop online, to pay for things with our devices instead of a plastic card or paper and coin currency.

We have James Comey who still seeks a backdoor to encrypted devices and services when it’s warranted but we also see a telling reality that our government simply lacks the ability to be trusted should they ever be granted these backdoors.

For the sake of argument if a government can’t bother to encrypt it’s own devices and data, any backdoor they were given, well that would be gone and into the hands of hackers at some point.

Last August FBI Director James Comey testified before Congress and said that that terror groups are in fact, using encrypted programs to hide their communications from prying eyes and that they are aggressively targeting young Americans online and they are succeeding.

So that really even last year wasn’t new news. If you ever ventured onto the dark web into the right places, you sort of already knew that.

So instead of look at the actual real underlying issues as to why any young American would want to join a terror group like ISIS, we want to tout that encryption is bad. It’s evil and so so bad and it allows these bad guys to communicate…secretly.

That means, our government fears it. Rather than try to learn it much less outsmart it, they want to instill this fear. Yet I look around me and I see the guys at organizations like Apple, Whats App, Facebook, as well as many others working with encryption daily, making it smarter, easier for me to work with, understand and use.

And I along with many others trust it.

Ahh but here is the catch, these organizations make encryption user friendly to a consumer, instead of something to be feared. They are giving me exactly what I want and they have a great track record so I trust it.

So personally, I tend to feel that our government needs to come forward a few decades in terms of really understanding encryption, society and how we use things like, technology.

Some within our Government think that encryption puts us all at risk. I beg to differ, it’s our government’s lack of knowledge that does, not encryption.

Should companies like Apple, work with any government entity when faced with an issue like opening an iPhone for let’s say a person who committed an act of terror?

I vote for yes but only to an extent. They should help them open a device or message only if certain extreme conditions have occurred such as an act of terror.

Should they create backdoors and hand them to the FBI? Not at this point because our own government can’t be trusted with it and simply does not have the ability to secure it.

If a backdoor is needed to get into anything, its much safer at the company that created it and not ever in the hands of anyone at our government.

If our government creates a backdoor at some point (highly doubtful, very highly doubtful) fine.

The biggest issue however, is that our own government lacks the knowledge to deal with encryption, they can’t use it, don’t understand it and are reacting more out of fear than with knowledge.

According to Edward Snowden the recent hack of the NSA could be a warning from Moscow. By the way it’s good to see Edward back and tweeting again.

If what he says is true, our government truly doesn’t have what it takes to defend us when it comes to the cyber world.

As far as I can tell the issues and problems are not encryption, not in the least.

It’s the criminals and more importantly, that our government has been caught with it’s pants down over things like emails where what was said in them should have never been sent in an email if you didn’t want to get caught in the first place.

Emails that should have never been on a server that could be hacked, messages that should have been on an encrypted device, maybe?

If the most recent hacks have not opened our government’s eyes from the slumber of ignorance they have been in, I am not sure what will.

I really think that our government needs to start being part of the solution instead of the problem since hackers keep catching them with their pants down.